


forty-one (one last time)

by numinousnumbat



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: M/M, Welters Challenge 2018, canon levels of drinking, canon levels of smoking, canon levels of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 22:03:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14657132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/numinousnumbat/pseuds/numinousnumbat
Summary: Quentin is sent back for one final try of the time loop. He's going to need to convince his friends that he's not crazy and they're all going to need to work together to kill the Beast. For the 2018 Welters Challenge, Theme 3: “Time Loops.”





	forty-one (one last time)

**Author's Note:**

> [The Welters Challenge tumblr.](https://thewelterschallenge.tumblr.com/)
> 
> The "One Last Time" portion of the title is from the Hamilton song of the same name. 
> 
> This starts out dark and major character death-y. If you want to skip the sad stuff, head straight for the second section that begins with "And then he was walking down the street in daytime," which is where the next time loop starts.

They were in back office of an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Michigan, surrounded by boxes and boxes of 50-year-old financial reports and time cards. Quentin had warded the room with everything he had, but that wasn’t much these days.

They were nearing the end, Quentin knew this in his bones. They all knew. They had received one last bunny from Fillory two weeks ago. “Castle taken. Fix this.” They were assuming Fen, Josh and Margo, who had been left on Fillory when the last of their transport methods went out, were dead. Quentin had sent them their last two bunnies, but the bunnies had bounced back in seconds. Fillory was, as far as they knew, gone.

“Did you set the tracker?” Quentin asked Eliot.

Eliot was wearing an old service uniform they’d found at the last hideout. It was ridiculously short on Eliot’s tall frame, but it somehow worked. Eliot looked impossibly tired. He hadn’t recovered from being the Host, and if Quentin could have given him two weeks of sun in Ibiza, he would have. But even Eliot, as weak as he was, was better than nothing. Eliot had volunteered to be left behind to fight It, but Quentin doubted if he was strong enough to do anything. Quentin was going to volunteer to stay with him. That would leave Alice and Penny to fix everything, but maybe if Quentin and Eliot fought together, they could buy Alice and Penny enough time to restart the loop.

Quentin didn’t want to outlive Eliot again.

Alice had her books. She was in the center of the room kneeling over them, using a car battery hooked up to an old lamp to light the dusty office. Batteries couldn’t be traced and it took less magical energy to ward a place if you didn’t also have to mask other magic.

“They have to be here soon,” she mumbled half to herself, half to Quentin and Eliot. Penny was searching for Fogg. Bigby had given them a list of places he might be, and Penny was working down that list. To avoid being followed or picked up on, he usually travelled to a half-dozen other worlds before going to the destination here on Earth. It was exhausting work, and he’d been doing it non-stop for weeks. The tracker Eliot had placed was so Penny could find them, and hopefully before It did.

“Dinosaur. Shit.” Penny said after the last series of unfruitful travels. They’d burned those clothes.

Eliot was sitting against the back wall and Quentin half sat, half fell next to him. Eliot handed over a water and Quentin drank gratefully. “Close your eyes for a couple of minutes, I’ll keep watch,” Eliot said.

“Maybe just a minute,” Quentin said, his eyes already shut. “Wake me if anything happens.”

Eliot ran his fingers through Quentin's hair, and Quentin used Eliot's thigh as a pillow as he let himself drift.

It probably wasn’t much later, and Quentin felt a hand shaking him to awake. He opened his eyes and saw Penny and Fogg. Thank the gods, they’d finally found him. It was the best thing that had happened to them in … a long while.

“Hey,” he mumbled.

“And our prodigal son awakes,” Fogg said. Quentin wondered if he still technically a Brakebills student and what would be the consequences of punching Fogg in the face. Too bad Kady wasn’t here, Kady would punch him.

Kady had sacrificed herself outside of Canton, Ohio when It had shown up. “Go,” she had yelled at them and even as Penny threw out his hand to grab her she had broken free and run towards It, throwing battle magic like she was born to do it. (Maybe she was.)

Julia was on some godly plane, gathering her strength. It had targeted her first, and she was the first to leave the group, saying it was going to be easier for the group to hide if they didn’t have to hide a goddess. She was right, but it was hard seeing her go. Her quiet optimism had been glue holding them together. Things had felt much worse after she left.

Alice was close to figuring out the spell, and then they had once chance to call Julia to power the spell. They were counting on Fogg being able to help Alice with the last part. Alice didn't waste time on pleasantries. “We want to start the time loop over,” she said. “I have the spell.”

Fogg laughed hollowly. “I have lived this life 40 times; what makes you think 41 is the magic number?”

“We’re doing it different this time,” Quentin said. “We're all going back with our memories, and we’re not going to make the same mistakes. If you had told us -”

“If I had told you,” - Fogg cut him off - “I would have sounded like a madman and you wouldn’t have listened to me. And in fact, I have told you and that’s exactly what happened. Time 3, 14 and 17, if my memory serves.” Fogg was expressionless.

“That’s why we’re all keeping our memories this time,” Quentin said with finality.

“You can’t,” Fogg said. “Alice has the Excellent Adventure spell, right?”

Alice held the book she was reading protectively to her chest.

“One person will keep their memories,” Fogg said. “As you add people, you need exponentially more magical energy. Even three people would take more than all of the magic in the known world.”

“Oh,” Alice said. “That’s why the calculations aren’t working.”

“And you’ll have to burn up the energy in the watch,” Fogg said. "You do have the watch, right?"

“Of course we have it,” Alice said testily.

“And we have Julia,” Quentin said. “She’s a goddess, who knows what she can do.”

“No, Fogg’s right,” Alice said. “We can’t risk it. We need one person to go back with a 100% chance of making it, rather than trying to send more people with less of a chance.”

Quentin sighed. Shit. “Ok, I guess do the calculations with Fogg.”

“No,” Eliot said. “Fogg’s fucked this up 40 times; it’s time for someone else to fuck it up.”

Fogg solemnly nodded once. “I don’t know that I can do anything I haven’t tried before.”

“Ok, Alice, then,” Quentin said. “She knows the most about what’s going on.”

“No, she gave that up when she tried to wipe her own memories at the Castle at the End of the World,” Penny said.

“It’s not about what happened,” Quentin said. This was frustrating. “It’s about who is going to be the best for the next timeline.”

“My vote is for Quentin,” Eliot said. He shrugged. “He’s the one of us that can sound a little crazy and we’ll still listen to.”

“My vote, too,” Alice said quickly.

“No, I’m the _worst_ choice,” Quentin said. What were they talking about. He was the least technically proficient and Alice had her memories and her research and some of her niffin memories.

“My vote is for Alice, but I guess Quentin isn’t my _last_ choice,” Penny said.

“It doesn’t matter, we already outvoted you,” Eliot said. “Quentin wins.”

“If Fogg can help, I need five minutes,” Alice said. “We have everything else prepared.”

“I’ll go get our goddess,” Penny said.

It was Quentin and Eliot left sitting on the floor. Eliot grabbed Quentin’s hand and Quentin rested his head on Eliot’s shoulder.

“I can’t believe this is how it ends,” Quentin said.

“This is how it _begins_ ,” Eliot said. “This isn’t the beginning of the end: it’s the end of the beginning.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere without you,” Quentin said.

“You’ll see me soon,” Eliot said. “I’m the tall, attractive one that hits on you your first week at Brakebills.” Quentin looked up at Eliot. “Promise me something,” Eliot said.

“Anything,” Quentin said.

“Tell me about Rupert,” Eliot said softly, and Quentin felt tears starting to form, hot prickly heat in his eyes and in his stomach. “Maybe he’s your nephew or a kid in a book, but make sure I know about Rupert.”

“I can’t do this, El,” Quentin said.

“You’re gaining a brand new Eliot,” Eliot said. “One that still can do magic and is marginally less fucked up.” 

Quentin sniffed. “Shit,” Quentin said laughing and crying at the same time. He wiped at his eyes with the back of his dirty hand.

Alice and Fogg were finishing up. Penny travelled back, he was soaking wet. “Julia will be here soon,” he said there was a explosion of golden light and Julia was there.

“Are we ready” she asked. She knew they had no time to spare; It had probably already noticed Julia here and was moving in to kill them all.

“We can restart the loop,” Alice said. “If you’ll lend me your power, I can do the spell.”

Julia nodded. "Of course," she said. She looked around. “What aren’t you telling me?”

"We're only sending one back," Eliot said. "Only Quentin is keeping his memories."

“I thought we had agreed we’d all go back?” Julia said.

“It’s an energy problem,” Alice said. “If you have enough power, we can send more people back.”

Julia shook her head no. “I don’t,” she said. “So Quentin,” Julia smiled at him. “I think that’s the right choice, too.”

Oh, gods, this was really happening. Fogg held the book open, and Julia shut her eyes in concentration, putting her hand on Alice’s shoulder blade. Alice had the watch in front of her and was casting in her precise way. Gold light was flowing from Julia to Alice. Penny was looking on, chewing on his thumbnail.

“Good luck, man,” Penny said.

“I love you,” Eliot whispered and it felt like going down the biggest hill of the rollercoaster, and then there was a blinding purple flash.

 

***

 

And then he was walking down the street in daytime. Julia was saying, “Right, lesser Ivy League.”

Quentin stopped in his tracks. “Hey, Julia, I zoned out for a second, I think it’s my new meds, we’re on the way to the interview, right?”

She smiled at him. “Yeah, the Yale alumni interview.”

Quentin nodded. “Ok, wow, ok. It worked.”

“The medication or four years of studying your ass off?” she said lightly. She bumped her shoulder against his.

“This is going to sound strange, but I think our lives our about to change today.”

“I hope so,” Julia said. “You deserve Yale, and Yale almost deserves Quentin Coldwater.”

“No matter what happens today, we are going to talk tonight, ok?” he said.

“Sure,” Julia said. She gave him a small sad look, the kind she had been giving him for the past few months. The one that said _I’m worried about you_ and _I wish you could be happy_. Quentin had wanted that, too.

But first, the Plan: get into Brakebills, gather his friends, save the fucking world. Oh, and find Eliot, seduce him so that his spirits are lifted and life retains its sparkle for decades. Yeah, that could work.

Quentin hopped up the few steps to the brownstone and knocked. No answer, not that he was expecting one. Julia was standing to the side, sipping her coffee.

“Hey, could you come in with me?” he asked. He’d seen too many dead bodies lately and didn't want to do this alone.

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “Everything ok?”

“Weird premonition,” he lied easily.

They opened the door and walked in and an old man was lying there, dead.

“Your premonition was right,” she said, tilting her head and giving him a searching look. He saw the Fillorian clock wished there was a way to take it with them, but that did feel like stealing. He glanced around the room and on a side table, he saw two envelopes, one addressed to Quentin Coldwater, one to Julia Wicker.

“What the hell is going on?” Julia asked. “I’m not even supposed to be here.”

“What if I had a premonition this was a good thing?” Quentin asked. He handed Julia her envelope.

He called 911 to let them know there was a dead person, and they walked outside, shutting the door behind them.

Quentin opened his envelope, it was a plain sheet of paper with nothing written on it. The lack of the sixth Fillory book really cemented that Jane Chatwin was dead, forever.

Julia studied her envelope intently, then all at once opened it. A gust of wind caught it and blew it behind them. “Just a sec,” she said and jogged a few steps to grab it from where it had blown into an alley. A few moments later, Quentin realized she wasn’t coming back and ran to the empty alley to check for sure. She was gone. Ok, this was a good thing, he tried to tell himself. He tried not to be nervous; he knew he was next.

Nothing happened for a few blocks. He tried tossing his paper in the breeze, but kept having to bend over and pick it up. He kept walking and walking and the sidewalk was now a dirt footpath. He must be getting close? He followed the path and pushed aside some branches and was in a large, sunny field. He was at Brakebills again, for the first time.

He saw Eliot laying on top of the sign, smoking. It had only been a few hours since Quentin had last seen Eliot, but it had been years and years since he had seen _this_ Eliot. He picked up the pace to get to him faster. 

“Quentin Coldwater?” Eliot asked, jumping down from the sign. Beautiful, beautiful Eliot.

“Yes,” Quentin said smiling at him.

“You’re late,” Eliot said. Quentin couldn’t help but beam at him. Eliot definitely was checking him out. Eliot lead him to the classroom and he saw the back of Julia’s head. As he sat next to Penny, he looked around and saw Alice and Kady, good. He started his test, it was easy. He was the first one finished, and then he was taken to a different classroom with Fogg and some other of the professors.

“Let’s see some magic,” Fogg said.

“Uh, what would you like to see?” Quentin asked.

Fogg looked unimpressed. “Magic,” he enunciated. “Real magic.”

Quentin grabbed a deck of cards from the table. He threw them in the air and put them into the Castle Whitespire configuration. It was weird, his head knew the magic, but these fingers didn’t. He felt impossibly rusty.

Fogg and the other professors sat there silently. Was this not enough this time? With a twist of his wrist he gathered the cards back to him.

“I don’t really know what you are expecting now,” he said. He was fucking up, big time. “We could play Push or I can go through the practice drills or battle magic?”

“Students are not permitted to perform battle magic, Mr. Coldwater,” Fogg said.

“Right,” Quentin said, and then turned himself into a fox and back.

“You seem to know all the magic you need to,” one of the professors said. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to save the world,” Quentin said.

“Welcome to Brakebills,” Fogg said.

 

***

 

Julia was in, she was bubbly and excited and Quentin couldn’t help but be excited with her. It felt so right that they were here together. He was put in a room with Penny, again. He’d forgotten what an absolute dick Penny could be.

Eliot popped in later that afternoon to show him around and it was everything Quentin could do to not grab his hand, touch his shoulder.

“If I wanted to start a club, how would I go about doing that?” Quentin asked. Eliot had brought them back to the Physical Kids Cottage and Quentin couldn’t believe how much it felt like home. It looked the same, it smelled the same. 

Eliot was pouring three drinks, so Margo must be nearby. “A club,” Eliot repeated. “What sort of club?” He sat down close to Quentin on the couch and tucked some of Quentin’s hair behind his ear. Had Eliot hit on Quentin this early last time and Quentin hadn’t noticed?

Quentin took a sip, it was fruity and nice. “Uh, a battle magic club,” Quentin said.

“That’s illegal,” Eliot said, sounding delighted. “How does someone like you know anything about battle magic?”

“That will be a good story for the first club meeting,” Quentin said, taking another sip. He smiled at Eliot over his drink.

“Silly me, I didn’t finish the tour,” Eliot said, taking Quentin’s drink and setting it on the coffee table. “Did you want to see my bedroom?”

“I thought you would never ask,” Quentin said. Eliot smiled brightly and grabbed Quentin’s wrist, and led him up the stairs. Eliot’s room was organized chaos, with clothes and ashtrays and dirty glasses sitting on every available surface. Eliot closed the door and Quentin backed Eliot up to the door and then they both came in at the same time for a kiss.

Quentin was lost in the feeling of Eliot when Eliot pulled back. “This is going to be the best school year ever,” he said grinning down at Quentin.

“Can we be more naked?” Quentin asked and started taking his shoes off.

Eliot clapped his hands twice. “It’s like we were lovers in a past life!”

“What?” Quentin said.

“I said - it doesn’t matter - let’s get naked.” Eliot started unbuttoning his vest.

Quentin kept taking his clothes off and he was down to his boxers when he decided he couldn’t - shouldn’t? - go through this, not without telling Eliot the truth. “Ok, I’m going to say something that’s going to sound a little weird,” he said.

“I like weird,” Eliot said pulling an undershirt over his head.

“We were actually lovers in a past life, well a past life and a time loop ago.” Quentin looked at Eliot’s face but couldn’t read it.

“Ok, I was hoping you wanted to spank me or something, but we can work with this.” Quentin lunged at Eliot and pulled his head down to get back to kissing.

 

***

 

After, Quentin wanted to stay buried in Eliot’s side in his bed forever. It had been so long since they could do this and not have to be ready to run or fight at a moment’s notice. He couldn't even remember the last time they were able to even be naked together. Eliot had a cigarette in hand and snapped his fingers to light it. He took a slow drag.

“Quentin Coldwater, that was fucking great and I’m half-inclined to believe your past time whatever story.” Eliot was more relaxed now than Quentin had seen in years. He was so beautiful, and Quentin reached up to run his fingers through Eliot’s hair. What if they ran away to a deserted island somewhere and let whatever happen happen without them?

Quentin held out his hand for the cigarette, took a deep inhale, and blew out the smoke. He did his favorite trick and made the Muntjac and then floated it past Eliot.

Eliot smiled at it. “A boat,” he said. “I like boats.”

“I know,” Quentin said.

“You really do believe we knew each other?” Eliot looked disconcerted.

“I can try and prove it,” he said. “If that would help.”

“How would you do that?” Eliot asked.

Quentin smiled at him. He turned his head towards the door. “MARGO!” Quentin yelled. “MARGO HANSON, GET IN HERE.”

Eliot was laughing into Quentin’s hair. “Honestly, I’m sold. Whatever you have to say, I’m going to believe you.” This Eliot looked twenty years younger than the Eliot he had just left, and Quentin's heart ached.

Margo, gorgeous Margo, sauntered in. She had the same raw energy he remembered, and it took his breath away. “El, I haven’t even unpacked and you’re already screwing some first year?” she said, hand on her hip.

“This is Quentin,” he said, gesturing to Quentin with the hand that was holding a cigarette.

“I would have guessed that from the shouting I heard a few minutes ago.” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Hi, I’m Quentin,” Quentin said, sticking his hand out for her to shake.

“Hard pass,” Margo said looking at his hand. “I can guess where that hand’s been.” Quentin winced.

“Ok, so, there’s this weird time loop thing going on,” Quentin said. “I’m from a different time loop and I want to prove this to you as soon as possible so we can go to Fillory, defeat an evil monster, and save magic.”

“Fillory from the books?” Margo said. “Ok, you’re definitely nuts, but in an amusing way.”

“Who are the others?” Eliot said. “I doubt that the three of us are going to, what is it?, save magic all on our own.” There were a bunch of air quotes in there, Quentin could hear those loud and clear.

“Mostly first years, Julia Wicker, Kady Orloff-Diaz, Alice Quinn and Penny ... something. Oh, Josh Hoberman, but he’s not back yet, I’m guessing.” 

“Josh Hoberman is one of the missing students,” Margo said, her mood changing to wary.

“He has seriously the best drugs on campus, and that’s saying a lot on a magical campus.” Eliot interjected. He placed a hand on his heart. “I miss him so.”

“He’s in the Neitherlands - it’s in between world - Penny can go get him,” Quentin said thinking out loud.

“I wouldn't mind seeing Josh again,” Margo said.

“It was getting boring around here," Eliot said. 

“Can you guys help?" Quentin asked. "I want to get everyone together, that’s step one.”

“We can kidnap them,” Eliot said.

Margo rolled her eyes. “We rule this campus,” she said. “We’ll invite them to the Cottage tonight; no one says _no_ to Margo and Eliot.”

 

***

 

Margo was correct, and after Quentin was back from the library with what he hoped were some useful books, he found the six of them in the Cottage.

Margo and Eliot were at the bar. Julia was talking to Alice. Alice curled in on herself, but seemed to be opening to Julia. He was glad they were able to become friends before all the crazy shit started happening. Might start happening? Kady and Penny were making out.

“Oh my god, did you guys already have sex?” Quentin asked.

“That is none of your business,” Penny said.

“I mean, you just met her,” Quentin said.

“Still none of your business.” Penny rolled his eyes.

“Quentin and I have had sex,” Eliot announced. Oh, yeah. Julia turned to stare at Quentin. 

Margo was tapping her foot. “I don’t care who is fucking. Can we get this party started?”

“Welcome to The Athenian Society,” Eliot said. He handed drinks to Alice and Julia. 

“We’re not calling it that,” Quentin said. “Hi, everyone, welcome to our first battle magic club meeting.”

“Clubs are bullshit and I want no part of this,” Penny said, making no move to leave.

“Ok, the short, crazy story is that I’m from a different time loop, and things are going to get really really bad, like we all die bad, and I’m back here so we can figure out a way that everything works out and we all live.” He was hoping being up front and honest - the exact opposite of Fogg - was going to be the trick this time.

“What the _fuck_?” Kady said. Ok, maybe not a great plan.

“I’ll prove it to you, umm, how does this work, I tell you things that only someone from the future would know?” Quentin said. He had watched so many movies, this was easy in the movies.

“Got any lottery numbers?” Kady asked.

“Oh no, didn’t think of that," Quentin said. Kady scowled. "I left in a hurry?” Quentin said.

Who to start with? He turned to Alice. No, bad idea. Kady?

“Kady, your mom is a hedge witch and you’re here working for Marina.” He realized a short cut. “We’ll help you get rid of Marina if you help us.”

“I’m listening,” Kady said.

Quentin turned to Alice. “Alice, we can’t help Charlie right now, but I have some experience with niffins, and if you help us, I will tell you everything I know.”

Alice paled. She bit her lip, and nodded once.

He turned to Margo and Eliot. “You two were born to be kings and queens, and there is a kingdom that needs you.”

“We’re not interested,” Eliot said. “Sounds like work.”

“Speak for yourself,” Margo said.

“Penny,” Quentin was thinking fast, but couldn’t think of anything. There was a long pause.

“Do you even know my name, my real name?” Penny asked, crossing his arms.

“William ... something.” Quentin said. Penny threw his arms in the air.

“What about me?” Julia asked.

“Yeah, you’ve known him the longest,” Margo said. “What do you think?”

“I learned magic was real today, I’m ready to believe a hundred more impossible things,” Julia said. “I’ve known Quentin my whole life, and he’s not crazy. He said he had a premonition that the interviewer was going to be dead, and he was. But that was because you've already lived it once?” She turned to look at Quentin. Quentin nodded.

“You weren’t at Brakebills with us last time,” Quentin said. “Fogg kept you out to see if that was going to be the thing that helped us.”

“What the hell,” Julia said.

“So this is a neat trick,” Alice said. “But an easy trick for a physic.” She shrugged.

“Oh this dick isn’t psychic,” Penny said.

“Yeah, I’ve been projecting false information at him since we started and he hasn’t picked it up,” Kady said.

“So you have our interest,” Margo said. “We don’t believe you, but I think we’re all willing to listen a little longer. Lay it out how you want this to go. What’s your plan to save magic?”

Quentin took a deep breath. “Ok, so we need to get good, like really good at battle magic - Kady can help us. And then we go find the Beast and kill him.”

“Battle magic is hard,” Kady said. “It takes _years_ to begin to master it.”

“We used these emotion bottles,” Quentin said, showing how small the bottles were with his fingers.

“That’s a _terrible_ idea,” Kady said.

Julia raised her hand, and then put it back down when she realized what she was doing. “Q, I love you, but what makes you think this time is going to go any different? Doing the same stupid thing over and over again is kinda your MO.” She gave him a small smile.

“Yeah,” Margo said. “We need to do something fresh and not a rehash of the past 40 time loops.”

“We should do what we’re good at,” Eliot said. “I’ll provide drinks and quippy one-liners.”

Margo glared at Eliot. “More telekinesis, less tequila, amigo.”

“That was a good one-liner,” Eliot said. “Don’t steal my talent.”

“Oh,” Quentin said, mind racing. “Actually, I like where this is going. What if Margo gets, like, crazy good with cryomancy.”

“Cryomancy is my discipline,” Margo said to the first-years who looked puzzled.

“How do we get a discipline?” Julia asked.

“There’s usually a branch of magic you’re naturally better at,” Alice said. “They’ll test us later.”

“Or Quentin from the Future can tell us now,” Margo said.

“Phosphoromancy for Alice,” Quentin said. Alice smiled, a real smile, for the first time all night.

“What am I?” Julia asked.

“In a different time loop, you were a Knowledge student,” Quentin said.

“It means your a dork that likes to learn shit,” Margo said to Julia’s confused look.

“Kady, you did a lot with battle magic.” Kady nodded once, a far look in her eyes.

“What’s your speciality, Q? Eliot asked.

“Minor mendings,” Quentin said.

“Ok,” Eliot said. “We’ll figure something out. Maybe you can be the waterboy.”

“I’m psychic,” Penny said. “But you already knew that.”

“You’re a traveler,” Quentin corrected.

“A what?” Penny said.

He should have planned this better as it was a shame he wasn’t able to use this information in a way to annoy Penny. “You can travel to different places by thinking about it. You’ll have to talk to Sunderland about it. Soon, please, you’re one of the best ways to get us to Fillory. And we need to get Josh.”

Penny looked marginally less angry.

“So new plan,” Margo said, standing. “Everyone study your discipline like the AP test is tomorrow. Julia and Alice, you guys hit the books. Eliot and I will talk to the professors and see what they know. Penny, figure your shit out, go get Josh as soon as you can. Kady, you’ll work with us for some basic battle magic, I’ve always wanted to learn that. And Quentin, if I find out this is some sort of a big joke, I will blow Eliot in front of you and not let you touch.”

“That’s not really a turn off for me,” Quentin mumbled.

Margo lit up. “Eliot, the time-traveling super nerd might be your soulmate.”

 

***

 

Everyone, to Quentin’s surprise, kept to the plan. They did end up calling themselves The Athenian Society and made it sound boring enough when other students asked about it that no one wanted to join.

Penny was getting better at traveling each day. He occasionally got stuck in other worlds, but was getting better at hitting his targets.

The rest of the group was getting further and further into their disciplines, taking their magic as far as it could go.

Julia had checked out seemingly half of the library, and was usually the one that came up with new applications in the disciplines. After Quentin told her about the Quarterback, her mini time travel machine, she made one the next day.

Alice could turn light into a terrifyingly destructive laser, and she could extinguish all of the available light in a room, making it as dark as a cavern.

Margo could slow down particles until they were almost at absolute zero. She could use the available moisture in the air to freeze someone’s shoes to the ground, or their hands together behind their back.

Kady was working on protective battle magic, and could conjure a shield that could block the effects of Alice or Margo’s magic to keep it contained. She worked on attack battle magic as well, but said that she couldn’t do anything like what Alice and Margo were doing.

Eliot was getting more precise with his telekinesis, but not more powerful; he could only move things of a certain mass.

Quentin wasn’t great at anything, really, and mostly kept the other first years up to date with what was happening in their courses. Which meant he was the first to hear that the Beast had paid a visit to one of the classes; the Beast had walked through the room like he was looking for someone, but disappeared without killing anyone. The students were terrified, and two dropped out.

It was so close to what Quentin had told his friends that it solidified that Quentin wasn’t crazy and something bad was happening.

The Athenian Society had taken over the Physical Kids Cottage completely. Julia was as likely to sleep there as the Knowledge attic. There were maps of Fillory posted, and the walls were covered with spells they didn’t want to forget, and the magical calculations they needed to memorize to deal with the two moon situation on Fillory.

Penny, about halfway through the first semester, made it to the Neitherlands and brought Josh back with him. Josh joined the Society, making sure everyone was eating on a normal schedule, and threatening to drug people that refused to sleep. Josh was a godsend.

Quentin used a truth serum on Fogg to find out that, no, this Fogg didn’t have any memories from their past timelines. He wasn’t surprised, but it still left him feeling a little bit alone.

Fogg did offer to give them their cacodemons early, and expressed what might have been regret at not being more helpful. He also asked if maybe Quentin and his friends could show up to class more often.

They didn’t need classes; they were learning everything they could on their own.

Margo earned her Master Magician license first. Eliot failed his first attempt, but was second to get his license.

“You gotta look those examiners in the eye and give them a look that says,  _I will end you_ ,” Margo said.

“Don’t do it while you’re hungover,” Eliot said.

Alice and Kady were next; Kady was the youngest Master Magician in the history of Brakebills. Then were Julia and Quentin. Penny was prepared, but they couldn’t find a licensed Traveler to give him the exam and so he was granted a provisional license. Time was running out, but they were running towards their goal.

  
***

 

After they were certified Master Magicians, it was time to go to Fillory. Josh opted to stay back since he hadn’t had a great first trip to Fillory. He did promise to have a casserole waiting whenever they were back.

Quentin, Eliot, Margo, Alice, Julia, Kady and Penny were ready. They had a plan and a dozen variations of that plan ready to go.

Penny traveled them in to Fillory, and Quentin lead the way to the Knifemaker and the Leo Blade. As they were knocking on his door, Quentin wondered if he needed to have traveled here with Julia in this time loop to make this happen. He was relieved when the Knifemaker had the Leo Blade ready for them.

Time travel was weird.

“Before we do this test, I have a counter-offer for Fen,” Quentin said. They were all seated around a long table in the Knifemaker’s kitchen. Fen was sitting to the Knifemaker’s right and Quentin across the table.

“My daughter is promised to the High King,” the Knifemaker said.

“What if she was promised a spot on the Roads and Bridges Committee?” Quentin asked. The Knifemaker scoffed, but stayed in his seat, obviously not too offended by Quentin’s lowball offer. “We will accept nothing less than an Ambassadorship.”

“Sure,” Quentin said. This was too easy. “Loria, but not the Outer Islands.”

The Knifemaker turned to Fen. “That's fine!” she exclaimed. Good, this was going to be a much better fit for her than Eliot’s wife.

“Great, we’ll take the Blade, grab our crowns, kill the Beast and be back for Fen soon,” Quentin said.

The Knifemaker laughed hollowly. “You haven’t passed the test,” he said.

“Right,” Quentin said. He waved his hand towards Eliot, and Eliot with some confusion turned towards the Knifemaker who grabbed his hand and slid a blade along it. Blood welled up and Quentin handed him a napkin from the table.

“My king,” the Knifemaker said standing and bowing.

Fen went to stand, but Margo held her arm. “Make him earn it,” Margo said to Fen.

Fen looked at Quentin. “How do you know so much?” she said.

“Er, magic?” Quentin said.

“This is why Ember and Umber have blessed this kingdom by allowing the Children of Earth to rule,” the Knifemaker said.

There was a conversation Quentin wanted no part in. “Let’s go get some crowns,” he said instead.

“If my daughter is not invited to be at Castle Whitespire by the end of the month, I will take action,” the Knifemaker said.

“Noted,” Eliot said. “I have a pretty hard and fast rule where I keep the deals I make with people that know how to kill me in my sleep.”

They retrieved their crowns. Eliot was high king, with Margo as his high queen. He choose Quentin as his king and then asked who wanted to be the queen. Julia volunteered.

It was time to battle the Beast.

 

***

 

The Beast was at the cabin over the Wellspring. They hunkered down within eyesight of the cabin. Kady shielded them so they could prepare. Penny practiced getting back and forth from the Brakebills infirmary. They activated the Brakebills South warming spells. Kady threw up a few more layers of protective barriers and Eliot was left to keep them going. Alice used one of her phosphoromancy tricks to camouflage them, and it was time to move in. They pulled on their heat vision goggles. Outside the cabin, Quentin, Penny, and Julia formed the second line of defense. Alice, Kady, and Margo crept forward, and Alice took all of the light from the area, making it completely dark.

Julia’s finger was on the Quarterback, ready to go back in time if something bad happened.

Quentin stood at the window to see inside.

“What in Ember’s name,” they heard the Beast mutter as darkness took over.

Kady hit the Beast with a paralyzing spell, and Quentin saw him hit the wall. He was struggling and his magic was powerful and ready to burst through. Margo used a freezing spell and he still struggled. Quentin was outside the cabin with a warming charm and could feel the creeping cold.

In a flash of white heat, Alice used phosphoromancy to laser the Beast's head from his shoulders. Margo hit him with another cold spell, freezing him where he lay. Kady hit him with Battle Magic and he … shattered. Alice stopped her darkness spell and they took off their goggles.

Gross.

“We fucking did it,” Quentin said. The Beast was dead and all of his friends and Penny were alive. He started sobbing, he couldn’t stop.

Eliot had gotten the signal that everything was ok and had dropped Kady’s shields. He gathered Quentin in his arms. “Shhhhh,” he said. “You’re ok. We’re all ok, we did it.”

 

***

 

The first year of their rule had flown by. There had been elections. One town where the sun came up earliest had wanted to change their time zone. 76 other towns followed suit and now there were 37 different time zones in Fillory. Talking animals won third of the open seats. One non-talking dog was the mayor of a tiny village, and another village voted in an especially pretty rock. Democracy was still new.

Eliot and Margo had the love of the Fillorians. Margo had taken a real shine towards the day-to-day operations. Julia was a great queen as well, soft where Margo was hard. Ready to to listen when Margo was ready to act. They balanced each other.

Eliot was less adept at the boring stuff, as he called it, and had decided that he and Quentin should explore their kingdom on horseback and "get to know the people." They were a week out, and not terribly far from Castle Whitespire. 

They were watering the horses at a stream when they both saw a flash of purple out of the corner of the eye.

“Curious,” Eliot said. “Shall we investigate?”

This was probably better than Eliot getting drunk in yet another pub and dispensing fashion advice, and Quentin motioned with his hand for Eliot to go first. They followed a path for a few paces when they saw a giant … chicken?

“Hi,” Eliot said. “We are your kings, Eliot and Quentin.” He bowed deeply and Quentin hurried to do the same.

The giant bird tilted his head. “I am the Great Cock,” he said.

“The Great Cock,” Eliot said delightedly and turned to grin at Quentin. Why couldn’t have they run into the Great Bird of Peace or the Utter Newt.

“I'll send you on an epic quest,” the Great Cock said.

“We’re fine,” Quentin said. “We have magic and the Beast is dead and Ember and Umber have been less asshole-y lately. No quests needed here.”

“Ah, but you still seek one thing. A person.” The Great Cock fluffed his tail feathers. “A son.”

“Rupert?” Quentin whispered. He probably would have fallen if Eliot hadn't wrapped his arm around his waist to support him.

“Or is it Ted?” the Great Cock asked. “You will need to find seven keys to have him return to you in this, what do you call it?, time loop.”

“How do you know about Rupert?” Eliot asked.

“Er, magic?” the Great Cock said.

“Well, what are we waiting for,” Eliot said. “Let’s go.” He grabbed Quentin’s arm and pulled him through the woods back to the horses.

“Are we really doing this?” Quentin asked him once they were mounted and heading back to Castle Whitespire.

“Like I would miss out on a epic quest with you,” Eliot said. “Let’s go find some keys and get our son back.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_ is considered the most plausible of all the time travel movies? The Athenian Society was a real thing, but nothing related to this story; I just liked how it sounded. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I am on [tumblr](https://numinousnumbat.tumblr.com/).


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